Management of temperate fruit genetic resources in India
2011
Gupta, S.
India is enormously rich in temperate fruit genetic resources. In the north, the temperate Himalayas stretch from Jammu and Kashmir to the north-eastern hill region, and in the south the Nilgiri hills also harbour a vast genetic diversity of temperate fruits, including apple, pear, peach, apricot, plum, walnut, almond, pecan nut, hazelnut, chestnut, berries, and several of their wild relatives. The National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources is the nodal organization for exchange, quarantine, collection, conservation, evaluation and documentation of plant genetic resources. Numerous germplasm accessions comprising broad genetic diversity in temperate fruits were introduced from other countries. Many introduced cultivars have been used directly for large scale cultivation, for example, the ‘Red Delicious’ group of cultivars in apple, etc. Diverse temperate fruit crops have been collected, characterized and evaluated; promising germplasm has been identified and utilized in crop improvement programmes. The germplasm is conserved through complementary in situ and ex situ strategies. The wild temperate fruit species are conserved in protected areas and national reserves. The National Genebank at NBPGR has a large ex situ conservation facility including field genebanks, seed genebank, in vitro multi-crop repository, and cryobank. Important temperate fruit accessions are being conserved in the field genebanks; however, germplasm remains under the threat of loss due to pest-pathogen attack, natural calamities and climate change. A back-up in vitro collection includes more than 300 exotic and indigenous accessions of Actinidia, Fragaria, Malus, Morus, Prunus, Pyrus, Rubus and Vaccinium. Future strategies must include monitoring of in situ genetic diversity loss due to climate change, identification of trait-specific germplasm such as low-chilling, biotic and abiotic stress resistance, systematic conservation and efficient utilization. This review focuses on the present status of temperate fruit genetic resources, their management and future perspectives.
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